spirit gear, heals over dps

Alright im starting to have to face a bit of a loot drama issue as a guild leader. through out all the time i have played this game it has always been to my understanding that if gear drops spirit it should go to the healers first, if it has hit DPS first. with cata they gave shamans druids and priests a talent that converts spirit into hit but still never had an issue, spirit went to the healers hit went to the dps, now all of a sudden with MOP Im getting some complaint/arguements bout this (mainly just one guy, an ele shammy) where they are wanting to roll on healy neck/rings/shield argueing that the spirit gives them hit, i still prefer the mentality that spirit off-set pieces should go to the healers first, am i wrong in this? how has your guilds dealt with this?

Generally spirit should go to healers first. Though really depends what are the alternative drops. There other question is: what are you currently struggling on your progress boss? If healing is not or barely enough then give it to healers, if you need more dps give it shadow priest, druid or shaman. Other alternative is to give it to healer with strong dps offspec.

I believe there are no leather or mail caster gear in the current content with +hit on them. So if an ele shammy or boomkin wants to get hit cap they must roll with +spirit. Except necklace and rings of course

I support the opinion that you are wrong. For hybrid class ranged DPS spirit EQUALS hit. I am putting emphasis on equals as this is a DPS item and a healer item at the same time. The only exception I see are trinkets, where spirit procs are not worth much for DPS specs. I must note however that assigning loot according to your raid groups needs (next encounters you have to master need more dps/need more healing) is probably the way to go, however that requires a very tight knit or professional group of players.

Have everyone in your guild make a Best-in-Slot item list for their class/spec. Rather than arbitrarily trying to decide a piece of gear is for X class/role, go by the BiS lists - if an item is BiS for someone, they have equal priority on it to anyone else that it's BiS for. If it's not BiS, it's open to whoever can use it as a temporary upgrade, according to your loot system.

Solves nearly all healer/DPS and tank/DPS disputes, as well as forcing people to know the loot table rather than just picking up an item because they can -- only to replace it 2 bosses later, when it may have been a better item for someone else.

You are right but that's why I said about alternatives. If e.x. there are 2 spirit rings and only one non-spirt I'd make it equal for both healers and dps. Though the main factor in deciding whom to give an item in my case is who will give us bigger advantage if we give him loot.

Your elemental shaman, as far as I'm concerned, has reason to be frustrated. They don't really make shields OR mail gear with intellect AND have hit. If there's a resto AND an ele shaman in a raid and a mail chest piece with int + spirit drops, it's always "healer gear".. and that really shames us dps. Even though a geared healer is nice, not letting a dps get ANY int + spirit equipment really cuts them off harshly. Consider the fact LFR has dished out some of this gear to my elemental shaman - she qualifies. I think the same can & should be said for whoever is lead and/or has Master Loot in raids.

Okay, so perhaps with specific armour types is one thing, NOW rings and amulets. That's a little bit more acceptable because there are more haste/mastery/crit/hit pieces. Perhaps not many, but at least they exist. I would say if you have healers you know who can benefit more from it than the dps who want it, give it to the healers. Basically a "loot council" sort of idea.

I was wondering if others felt this way about spirit ever since cata has given the spirit-hit conversion. This is something I would discuss with the guild and maybe establish an agreement on loot distribution. OR to make matters simple, if they can use the stats, then they qualify as much as the next. Cheers!

As a boomkin, I can confirm for you that A LOT of our BiS are spirit items, they give us better stats, as it dose for priests ect. It is intended to be shared so long as it is beneficial to both. Currently sharing close to a full set with MW monks hehe

Just gear your team equally, an upgrade that is BiS for both people should be given to who earned it via what ever loot system you are using.

Your elemental shaman, as far as I'm concerned, has reason to be frustrated. They don't really make shields OR mail gear with intellect AND have hit. If there's a resto AND an ele shaman in a raid and a mail chest piece with int + spirit drops, it's always "healer gear".. and that really shames us dps. Even though a geared healer is nice, not letting a dps get ANY int + spirit equipment really cuts them off harshly. Consider the fact LFR has dished out some of this gear to my elemental shaman - she qualifies. I think the same can & should be said for whoever is lead and/or has Master Loot in raids.

Okay, so perhaps with specific armour types is one thing, NOW rings and amulets. That's a little bit more acceptable because there are more haste/mastery/crit/hit pieces. Perhaps not many, but at least they exist. I would say if you have healers you know who can benefit more from it than the dps who want it, give it to the healers. Basically a "loot council" sort of idea.

I was wondering if others felt this way about spirit ever since cata has given the spirit-hit conversion. This is something I would discuss with the guild and maybe establish an agreement on loot distribution. OR to make matters simple, if they can use the stats, then they qualify as much as the next. Cheers!

see yeah its not the armor that we are having any trouble bout, its the off set pieces like rings neck and shield, I'm not saying that they cant have it at all im just saying shouldn't you give it to the healer first tho? and there are also the casting pieces you can get from rep/VP. meh i guess its just outta old habits that i still have this mentality. when we first created the guild we talked bout this and had agreed on it but i guess its something we should take another look at.

If mages and warlocks had a legitimate option for a second ring that didnt have spirit on it that would be fucking awesome.

Since mages and warlocks lost spirit equalling spell power through various talents, I generally see spirit gear being of lower priority for them if healers and boomkin/ele shamans need that gear still. Yes the secondary stats and the int/stam is good, but the items could be much bigger upgrades for someone else. (except for the case of the second ring this tier, mages and warlocks have no choice but to use a spirit ring)

My name is Cernunnos, I will love you like no other, I have died a thousand deaths, each time I died I thought of you.

see yeah its not the armor that we are having any trouble bout, its the off set pieces like rings neck and shield, I'm not saying that they cant have it at all im just saying shouldn't you give it to the healer first tho? and there are also the casting pieces you can get from rep/VP. meh i guess its just outta old habits that i still have this mentality. when we first created the guild we talked bout this and had agreed on it but i guess its something we should take another look at.

the healers and spirit using dps share a lot of gear, only prio should be if the item is BiS or not.